Joe: Spies watch us

IRELAND have fallen victim to the spy game but Joe Schmidt insists it hasn’t made him paranoid.

Following the recent Marco Bielsa controversy at Leeds United, when he admitted to sending spies to study opponents train, Schmidt revealed he has been made aware that Ireland have been watched.

“I’d have to say I’m not a believer in it,” said the head coach. “I don’t believe it’s necessary and I’d like to think there’s still a sense of fair play. I love some of the amateur values that exist in rugby.

“But I know it happens. I know it has happened to us a couple of times but I don’t think you get distracted by it.

“When you get the feedback, when it filters back, you’re disappointed but you kind of acknowledge, ‘OK, that’s their process, that’s their way of collecting information’.

“If you were paranoid about it you’d never actually train properly. You’d always be worried about somebody looking.”

Spying is not something Schmidt, 53, would ever contemplate though.

He added: “I don’t and never, ever have spied on another team to get ideas. But I do definitely watch other teams and how they might try to manipulate the opposition. I watch a lot of footage of our opposition.

“I try to work out what their habits might be and how we might then be able to manipulate their system. It’s never a perfect science.”